De la brièveté de la vie Chapitre 4

Potentissimis et in altum sublatis hominibus excidere voces videbis, quibus otium optent, laudent, omnibus bonis suis praeferant. Cupiunt interim ex illo fastigio suo, si tuto liceat, descendere ; nam ut nihil extra lacessat aut quatiat, in se ipsa fortuna ruit. Divus Augustus, cui dii plura quam ulli praestiterunt, non desit quietem sibi precari et vacationem a re publica petere ; omnis eius sermo ad hoc semper revolutus est, ut speraret otium. Hoc labores suos, etiam si falso, dulci tamen oblectabat solacio, ali- quando se victurum sibi. In quadam ad senatum missa epistula, cum requiem suam non vacuam fore dignitatis nec a priore gloria discrepantem pollicitus esset, haec verba inveni : " Sed ista fieri speciosius quam promitti possunt. Me tamen cupido temporis optatissimi mihi provexit, ut quoniam rerum laetitia moratur adhuc, praeciperem aliquid voluptatis ex verborum dulcedine." Tanta visa est res otium, ut illam, quia usu non poterat, cogitatione praesumeret. Qui omnia videbat ex se uno pendentia. qui hominibus gentibusque fortunam dabat, illum diem laetissimus cogitabat, quo magnitudinem suam exueret. Expertus erat, quantum illa bona per omnis terras fulgentia sudoris exprimerent, quantum occultarum sollicitudinum tegerent. Cum civibus primum, deinde cum collegis, novissime cum adfinibus coactus armis decernere mari terraque sanguinem fudit. Per Macedoniam, Siciliam, Aegyptum, Syriam Asiamque et omnis prope oras bello circumactus Romana caede lassos exercitus ad externa bella convertit. Dum Alpes pacat immixtosque mediae paci et imperio hostes perdomat, dum vel ultra Rhenum et Euphraten et Danuvium terminos movet, in ipsa urbe Murenae, Caepionis, Lepidi, Egnati, aliorum in eum mucrones acuebantur. Nondum horum effugerat insidias : filia et tot nobiles iuvenes adulterio velut sacramento adacti iam infractam aetatem territabant Paulusque et iterum timenda cum Antonio mulier. Haec ulcera cum ipsis membris absciderat : alia subnascebantur ; velut grave multo sanguine corpus parte semper aliqua rumpebatur. Itaque otium optabat, in huius spe et cogitatione labores eius residebant, hoc votum erat eius, qui voti compotes facere poterat.

You will find that the most powerful and highly-placed men let fall phrases in which they long for leisure, praise it, and prefer it to all the blessings which they enjoy. Sometimes they would fain descend from their lofty pedestal, if it could be safely done: for Fortune collapses by its own weight, without any shock or interference from without. The late Emperor Augustus, upon whom the gods bestowed more blessings than on any one else, never ceased to pray for rest and exemption from the troubles of empire: he used to enliven his labours with this sweet, though unreal consolation, that he would some day live for himself alone. In a letter which he addressed to the Senate, after promising that his rest shall not be devoid of dignity nor discreditable to his former glories, I find the following words: - ”These things, however, it is more honourable to do than to promise: but my eagerness for that time, so earnestly longed for, has led me to derive a certain pleasure from speaking about it, though the reality is still far distant.” He thought leisure so important, that though he could not actually enjoy it, yet he did so by anticipation and by thinking about it. He, who saw everything depending upon himself alone, who swayed the fortunes of men and of nations, thought that his happiest day would be that on which he laid aside his greatness. He knew by experience how much labour was involved in that glory that shone through all lands, and how much secret anxiety was concealed within it: he had been forced to assert his rights by war, first with his countrymen, next with his colleagues, and lastly with his own relations, and had shed blood both by sea and by land: after marching his troops under arms through Macedonia, Sicily, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and almost all the countries of the world, when they were weary with slaughtering Romans he had directed them against a foreign foe. While he was pacifying the Alpine regions, and subduing the enemies whom he found in the midst of the Roman empire, while he was extending its boundaries beyond the Rhine, the Euphrates, and the Danube, at Rome itself the swords of Murena, Caepio, Lepidus, Egnatius, and others were being sharpened to slay him. Scarcely had he escaped from their plot, when his already failing age was terrified by his daughter and all the noble youths who were pledged to her cause by adultery with her by way of oath of fidelity. Then there was Paulus and Antonius’s mistress, a second time to be feared by Rome: and when he had cut out these ulcers from his very limbs, others grew in their place: the empire, like a body overloaded with blood, was always breaking out somewhere. For this reason he longed for leisure: all his labours were based upon hopes and thoughts of leisure: this was the wish of him who could accomplish the wishes of all other men.

D’où vient donc tout le mal, ô hommes ? Vous vivez comme si vous deviez toujours vivre ; jamais il ne vous souvient de votre fragilité. Loin de mesurer la longueur du temps écoulé, vous le laissez perdre comme s’il coulait à pleins bords d’une source intarissable ; et peut-être ce jour que vous sacrifiez à tel homme ou à telle affaire est le dernier de vos jours. Vous craignez tout , comme de chétifs mortels ; et comme des dieux vous voulez tout avoir. Rien de si ordinaire que d’entendre dire : « À cinquante ans je quitterai tout pour la retraite ; à soixante ans je prendrai congé des emplois. » Et qui donc te garantit que tu dépasseras ce terme ? Qui permettra que les choses aillent comme tu les arranges ? N’as-tu pas honte de ne te réserver que les restes de ton existence, et de destiner à la raison le seul temps qui ne soit bon à rien ? Qu’il est tard de commencer sa vie à l’époque où elle doit finir ! Quel fol oubli de la condition mortelle que de remettre à cinquante ou soixante ans les projets de sagesse, que de vouloir entrer dans la carrière à un âge où peu d’hommes ont poussé la leur ! Vois comme il échappe aux plus puissants et aux plus élevés d’entre les humains des paroles de regret, des vœux pour ce repos qu’ils préconisent, qu’ils préfèrent à toutes leurs prospérités. Ils voudraient bien par instants descendre de leur faîte , s’ils le pouvaient impunément : car lors même qu’au dehors rien ne l’attaque ou ne l’ébranle, toute haute fortune tend à crouler sur elle-même.